June / July 1999
Awakening the Self Flyers included with the Hard Copy
Fiery World, I, 1933, para 7
June / July 1999Awakening the Self Flyers included with the Hard Copy |
Fiery World, I, 1933, para 7
|
Dear Friends,
Many articles written for Meditation Monthly International are insights and contemplative thoughts on Agni Yoga, which was first given to humanity by Helena Roerich and is a Teaching from one of the main branches of the Tree of Ageless Wisdom. This issue continues in the tradition of the Agni Yoga Teachings with an article titled, “The Self and the Fire Within.”
The term “Fire” is a curious word, a word which creates many images in our mind and various levels of thinking. However, Helena Roerich provides a very clear definition of the term “Fire” and Agni Yoga. She instructs, “It is necessary to explain to all who study the Agni Yoga books that the Primary, fiery energy is one and the same as the names: fiery energy, heart energy, mental, and psychic energy. They are all names that are, in essence, just different aspects of one and the same fundamental, primal energy, or the energy of Beness.”1
Man in his Core is a Spark of the Central Fire—the all Self. As the spark of Divine fire within us becomes ignited, our spiritual ascent begins. As we advance in illumination through meditation, study and service, we eventually will make a conscious contact with our first station of Fire —the Solar Angel—Who is a bridge by which even greater fiery achievements will be made possible. The path of Agni Yoga is a path, through which the Divinity within will take us to greater illumination, and whereby we will experience the joy of Transformation. The path of Agni Yoga is the path of transmutation, transformation and the path of transfiguration. Each stage brings the Pilgrim, the human soul, to the next fiery stage of purification. As the human soul ascends, he comes in contact with higher stations of fiery energy, each contact finding the soul becoming a purer expression of the Self.
Yoga means union. As the Pilgrim travels the Path of Illumination, he experiences and unites with various levels of the Primary energy. All that is not pure in his threefold lower nature is refined and cleaned in the fiery, electrical atmosphere until he becomes more radiant than the sun. The fire within one’s nature is the source of all his creative urges. The more charged you are with the fiery principles of Beauty, Goodness, Joy, Freedom and Service, the more refined you will become as a spiritual Being, and in that refinement, all that you create becomes charged with the Primary energy. It is a blessing to be in contact with a person who carries such creative fire, for his creativity will ignite your own Divine Flame.
In this issue of MMI you will also find a delightful and creative story, “The Woman in the Cave,” and a compilation from the Agni Yoga Series about the Teaching of Fire.
Shanti,
____________________________
1. Helena Roerich, At The Threshold of
the New World
(Prescott, AZ: White Mountain Education Association,
Inc. 1998) p. 170.
The Bard's Corner
The Woman in the Cave
by Shary Singer
In a kingdom not so far away, and not so long ago, a princess was born. A tiny life, which because of a mistake by an untrained nurse, had a deformity to her back. This defect, while not noticeable, was a source of constant nagging discomfort and as an infant the princess was irritable and colicky. The poor baby’s mother, being grateful that she could return to her smaller sizes and the attention of the men at court, soon left the child to be raised by her nurse, and the nurse feeling so guilty about the injury, spoiled the baby and pampered her even more than is normal for the princess of a royal family.
The Princess grew up with a very disagreeable temperament. She was critical and meanspirited. Her father worried about ever finding a husband for her. The stories of her temper and jealousy spread far and wide.
One day the Princess was out riding and decided to outrun her escort, knowing that if they returned without her they would be punished and dismissed. Galloping her horse, she disappeared into the woods and soon got lost herself. As she wandered through the paths, it began to rain. Now miserable and blaming the stupid escort for not finding her, she found a cave. Dismounting from her horse, and leaving it out in the rain, she entered alone, even though there was plenty of room for the horse to be dry also. “I don’t want that smelly old horse in here. It would only make a mess, and things are bad enough as it is,” she reasoned as she tied the horse securely under a tree. Feeling miserable and wet and generally angry at the world she curled up and fell asleep.
As she slept she had an interesting dream.
She was still in a cave but there was a woman there, a plain 
woman,
brown hair and eyes and simple clothing, but with a smile that lit the
whole cave. In the dream, the woman came to the Princess and touched her
back. Instantly the pain was gone. For the first time in her life the Princess
had no pain. Thinking the woman would want some reward for the healing
the Princess spoke, “Now you have cured me, I suppose you want me to tell
my father so he will give you a reward.”
Looking directly at the girl the woman said, “I have not cured you, my dear. I have merely removed an excuse for your meanness. I doubt if it will make any difference unless you can change what has grown in your heart. There is darkness there. It has spawned many children of its own: hatred, jealousy, anger, fear, revenge. All of these are the result of your insensitivity to others, and to yourself.”
In the dream, the girl made a rude noise and asked the woman what she was talking about.
“When I was a child,” the woman began, “I was raised by my father. My mother died when I was born, and he blamed me for her loss. As I grew up I learned fear and anger, jealousy and revenge at his hand. But I couldn’t sustain these emotions for long periods. When I went to the stream to get water, I would see the flowers and hear the birds, and the fear or anger would melt away. When I went to the fields to bring in the sheep, I would watch the lambs playing in the meadow and the hatred and jealousy would be gone. When my father died, I realized that I had loved him so much all my life but I had never told him. At that moment I vowed that I would never let any darkness, any hatred, fear, anger, jealousy, revenge, enter into my heart ever again.”
The Princess listened to the story and felt something stir in her heart for the poor little girl whose father had been so harsh. As she looked around she noticed the beautiful colors of the walls and that there was no lamp, yet the cave was light. There were no candles yet she could have read in the brightness. Her eyes turned to the woman and she asked, “How is it that it is so bright in here?”
The woman smiled kindly at her and said simply,
“When there is no darkness, there is only Light.”
The Princess woke to find herself alone in the cave,
dry and warm. As she looked around she heard the birds outside and felt
the warm sunshine streaming into her shelter. She moved and realized that
her back had indeed been healed, for it hurt not at all. Her heart felt
as if it would burst. She rose and ran to dry her horse, feeling guilty
at her cruelty. This was all new to her, but she loved the freedom she
felt and the love. She hurried back home to tell her father and her nurse,
and as she approached the castle she saw the most handsome man.
They were married and years later she told him of the
woman in the cave. She shared the story with all her children and taught
them to appreciate beauty and to express their love for all beings. When
she woke every morning and saw the sun come over the horizon, she had hope
for the world as she was reminded of the woman’s words, “When there
is no darkness, there is only Light.”
Agni Yoga - The
Self and the Fire Within
adapted from a lecture given by Joleen Dianne Du Bois
The Great sage M. M. said, “If a person invites you to explain Agni Yoga, tell him it is a path of striving to break your limitations. If a person should ask you, ‘How do you break your limitations?’ you can say, ‘Through observation and hard work.’ ”
Agni Yoga leads you to the Self. We have many selves, but only the one Self. The one Self is the “Pole Star of our life that leads us to a life higher and higher into light.”1
It is through self-observation that we are able to discover if we are traveling toward the Self or away from the Self. The further we travel away from the Self we lose our sense of who we really are. During the moments we travel toward the Self are moments where we are leaving pain and suffering behind. When we travel away from the Self, we are choosing pain, suffering and death. Those who are traveling toward the Self are becoming the noble ones of the universe, the heroes of the Universe.
Agni Yoga instructs that there are seven powers of the Self; the seven
powers are the powers used by the Agni Yogi. They are the powers of concentration,
synthesis, silence, patience, balance, the urge for enlightenment, the
urge to expand one’s consciousness on the higher and lower planes simultaneously,
and the urge to freedom. To have freedom means to have a right relationship
with yourself and others, yourself and your family, yourself and your group,
your friends and coworkers, your community, nation and the globe.
One who is striving on the path of Agni Yoga must strive to renounce his separate selves, the selves that lead him away from Reality into greater pain and suffering, chaos and confusion. If you are divided within yourself, you become distanced from your Real Self—from your life’s purpose. A person who is divided within himself will find his relationships with family, friends, coworkers, group, social, and professional life in various stages of separation, difficulty, struggles, pain and sufferings. If you have distanced yourself from your Real Self, your separate selves are controlling your actions, thoughts and feelings, causing disharmony and divisions in your physical, emotional and mental bodies. It can be observed that a personality with separate parts will have a split personality; he will experience problems with his physical, emotional and mental health; he will be confused and chaotic. He will cause suffering to others. The one whose personality is integrated, fused and aligned with the one true Self has a “tuned instrument.” He has put his nature in order and harmony. One who is controlled by his separate selves is the one whose “instrument” is out of tune, unable to bring forth harmonious music.
When you are traveling toward the Self, you are striving to become whole; you are displaying the seven powers in your travels toward the Self.
Since 1975 and the outpouring of Shamballa energy, the aspirants around the world began awakening to a greater reality. They discovered that their physical body was but a garment for their soul. Others discovered that they could consciously withdraw from their physical body, emotional body and lower mental body and have continuity of consciousness. Disciples learned to overcome matter and in so doing began to create an environment of right living and sane thinking. This high potent spiritual energy is going to be released once again directly from Shamballa to Humanity at the time of the Wesak Festival in the year 2000. During the Wesak full moon next year, humanity, aspirants, disciples and initiates will have another opportunity to make expansive and progressive changes in their lives—if they are aligned with the Self, with Reality.
Teilhard de Chardin wrote, “Apart from other things, I have been turning over in my mind this last week the idea of writing a note on awakening—of new ‘senses’ at the heart of the human consciousness—the sense of consistency (indestructibility, immortality); the sense of confluence—toward a super ego [the one Self]. 2
The Self within ourself can be “sensed,” and in that sensitivity, we will strive toward the light, the beauty, the power of the one Self. It is in this sensing and striving toward the one Self that we will become integrated, aligned and fused, unifying the many separate selves with the one true Self. When a person travels away from the Self, he is working against this survival. To live a spiritual life means to survive; it means right living and sane thinking. It means creating right human relations. If a person is divided within himself, he will cause pain and suffering to others. In aligning with the one Self, he will begin to align with the Self in others. It is in alignment with the one Self that we learn how to communicate with one another on a soul-to-soul level, rather than through our separate selves.
The Self is the Fire found within each atom, cell and person. Agni Yoga teaches us how to release this Fire and join with the Self of the universe.
The Self is sometimes called “the awareness unit.” The “awareness unit” must release himself from the physical, emotional and mental chaos so that he becomes a unified field of fire. This is synthesis, which is the keynote of the coming millenium.
With this information we can begin to understand that Spirit—the fire of Agni—moves from the higher to the lower bodies. For example, let’s say you are a very spiritually advanced person and, as such, have become an expression of the Self. Everything that you do and say will be the result of a united contact with the Fire of the universe, which will bring the opportunity to awaken the Self within others. When the Self is awakened in others, they will become one with you and with all those who are releasing their Divinity. There is no separation; they are part of the unbroken circle.
We are told there are higher beings who are trying to release the Spirit within us so that we may graduate into a higher spiral of evolution. We, in turn, are trying to help the kingdoms below us. Integrated, aligned and fused personalities are all like instruments in a big orchestra playing a symphony. I was remembering, when I played in a professional orchestra, how each of us would first tune our instrument before taking our chair on stage. Once all the musicians came together, we would then tune our instruments to one note played by either the concertmaster or oboist, until the whole of the orchestra would be in tune with one another. We cannot be a part of the Cosmic symphony if we are out of tune with the keynote of the whole. To be in tune with the one Self means to be in harmony with the universe.
The Agni Yoga Series of Teachings were given in 1922 and, at present, have been translated into more than ten languages. They are a treasury of wisdom that have no parallel in the esoteric literature of the world.
“Strive for the life glorified, and for the realization
of purity.
Put aside all prejudices—think freely.
Be not downcast but full of hope.
Flee not from life, but walk the path of salvation.”3
_______________________________
1. Torkom Saraydarian, From My Heart (Cave Creek, AZ: T.S.G.
Publishing Foundation, Inc., 1996), p. 213.
2. Teilhard de Chardin, Letter From A Traveler.
3. Leaves of Morya’s Garden, 1924, Book One, para. 1 (NewYork:
Agni Yoga Society, 1953), p. 9.
White Mountain
Education Association announces some exciting changes to our Web Site.
As we move into our fifth year online, our site has a
whole new look. If you have visited us in the past, you must come
again and see the changes. Please sign the guest book and let us know how
you like them.
Some of the NEW features:
There are two E-Mail forums available from our web site. One forum, called Living Ethics, will offer discussion of the Teachings of Helena & Nicholas Roerich and the Agni Yoga Series. The second forum, Torkom Teachings, will provide for dialog of the Teachings of Torkom Saraydarian. Both forums are moderated by Joleen Du Bois and she will be offering questions and topics for all subscribers to consider.
We are launching a Book Store online with an ever-increasing inventory. We now accept credit cards, and you can place your orders right from our secure site.
We are offering Meditation Correspondence Courses and other classes from our Online Campus, and the courses are interactive with our in-house committee. All reports and correspondence will be done through e-mail. Soon there will be audio lectures that you can hear over your internet connection, and in the near future there will be video lectures to see.
“And now the Fiery
World. I already mentioned the unity of fundamental energy, which is the
primal and fiery energy. Fiery energy is exactly the fundamental energy,
because fire is manifested in everything. There is no life without fire;
there is no manifestation without fire. The highest manifestation of this
fundamental fiery energy is psychic energy, and the qualities of this energy
are unlimited. All subdivisions are in essence different qualities of the
one fundamental energy, which manifests on different planes and through
different bodies through the different nerve centers or vehicles. Actually,
it is difficult to separate spirit from soul, because spirit is fire, and
the soul collects fiery manifestations of the energy. That is why there
is no tangible difference between these energies. It is possible only to
see a different degree of the fiery power in its manifestations.
“The Subtle World is all around us, and its scope is much broader and in no way compar-able to our earthly plane. If you wish, it could be called a step to the Fiery World. The Subtle World has many spheres and layers, and there is no other division between them than through the quality of consciousness; therefore, there are as many stages as there are levels of consciousness. Of course, the Fiery World is a specially high stage in the perfection of consciousness....
“The Supermundane World is both the Subtle World and the World of Thought. What could be more supermundane than thought? Devachan is, of course, a special state in the Subtle World in which a spirit is absorbed for needed rest. This state is really heavenly bliss, because in that dream state, the spirit experiences a transcendent earthly reality of a special brightness, which includes all the happiest days and moments of its earthly life. Not a single sad or unpleasant thought darkens this state of bliss.”1
“While observing the fiery signs one may note certain subdivisions of people. Some strive eternally and cannot exist without this uplifting movement—be assured that these belong to the element of fire. Even though they err, they cannot remain inactive. Observe them, and you will invariably discover the flaming force. But do not seek the creative Fire in the inertia of earth,the rolling undulations of water, the gusts of air. We do not wish to extol the fiery people unduly, but in truth it must be said that they move the world. One should not forget that these people do not find it easy to be in the midst of all other combinations.....
“From early years they bear in themselves, as it were, a reflection of the Higher Fire. It is as if these sparks compel them to withdraw from contact with other elements; and those elements do not like these fiery orbs. Yet one cannot traverse the earthly path without contact with Fire, hence it is better to know its essential nature.”2
“It should be pointed out that the tension of Fire reflects upon all functions of the body. One must not forget that, while the Fire of Space may heal wounds, on the other hand it can strain the tissues. Thus, let us be cautious.” 3
“Just think! Each of us carries within himself the One Fire, immutable throughout the entire Universe. No one cares to imagine that the universal treasure is within him. The elements are not identical in the entire Cosmos; the change in their qualities does not permit us to ascribe to them identicalness. But the fire of the heart alone unites through its magnet all world structures. One must think about this pre-eminence. It is necessary to utilize this treasure in the entire structure of life. There is but one Light of Fire in all the world. We can understand that Fire manifests at the most remote distances. There is nothing supernatural or mysterious about it. Even a lesser disciple has heard about the all-pervading Fire, but he has failed to realize its application.”4
“In order to accept and admit Fire as the path to Hierarchy, as the path of love and compassion, it is necessary to be affirmed irrevocably with one’s entire heart. Only thus will the small stars become flaming giants.” 5
“You already know about the significance of the thirtieth year for fiery manifestations, but one should especially guard the organism up to the seventh year. In children, even in the most highly developed, one should never force nature—Fire will not tolerate compulsion.... On the other hand, one should not inordinately facilitate the child’s striving, since excessive help creates weaklings. Therefore, the Golden Path is ordained. Thus, Fire demands cautious handling in all its manifestations.... People cannot exist without turning to Fire; in the earthly world or in the Subtle World, they turn to the higher Mediation.” 6
____________________________
1. Helena Roerich, At the Threshold of the New World (Prescott,AZ:
White Mountain Education Association, Inc., 1998), pp. 170-171.
2. Fiery World, I, 1933, para 2 (New York: Agni Yoga Society,
Inc., 1968).
3. Ibid., para. 3.
4. Ibid., para. 7.
5. Ibid., para. 9.
6. Ibid., para. 19.
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